Countering the ‘won’t ever happen to me’ response to the need for home insurance

12 August 2019

The UK’s residential properties are woefully underinsured, according to Assurant Intermediary. For this reason, advisers play a vital role in making sure that every new and existing customer, from first time buyer to seasoned homeowner, is adequately insured against damage, theft and loss.

Nearly a quarter of UK homes have no home insurance according to the latest ABI data and yet on average six pounds per week is all it takes to see all properties and their contents adequately covered.

Ireland and the South East have the lowest percentage of homes without cover at 18% and 19%, respectively. High risk areas are the North East (32%), West Midlands (28%) and Scotland (26%). London was shown to be the highest at risk with 45% of homes without cover.

It is estimated that insurers pay out 7.8 million pounds every day for domestic claims.

The most common home insurance claim is for burst water pipes, averaging in the region of 25,000 pounds, with water damage claims making up 31% of total claims in 2018. Other top reasons for claims are fire and explosion damage (17%), theft (16%), weather (8%) and accidental damage (13%).

Carl Stacey, Head of Distribution, said, “Assurant Intermediary takes pride in the number of broker seminars and events at which we are able to tell our story and talk about the needs of householders and the important role that advisers play in increasing the take up of home insurance.

“Any customer who says either they can’t afford it, or it will never happen to them, is not only unrealistic, but taking a considerable financial risk. With these statistics it is very clear that it is not a risk worth taking. I would urge every mortgage or financial adviser to make sure that all of their customers are properly covered. Our quoting platform makes it a very quick and simple exercise for brokers to give their customers a quote for the cover they need from a cross section of top insurers. Your customers will thank you if they ever have to make a claim!”